


From Scratch

by JenlyBee



Category: Motorcity
Genre: M/M, future Mike Chilton/Chuck, meet cute, mentions of various unpleasant ways to die, warning for Mike freaking out and being kind of morbid about survival in Motorcity
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-02-16
Updated: 2013-02-16
Packaged: 2017-11-29 11:49:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/686637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JenlyBee/pseuds/JenlyBee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When he runs away from Kane, Mike is helped by kind strangers, bullied by unkind ones, accidentally seduced by an awkward blond, and met with the discovery that that life goes on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	From Scratch

**Author's Note:**

> unbeta'd and inspired by tavybby's post about the 5 second day that I couldn't go to /le sob

Everyone was safe. A few injuries, but mostly bruises and cuts, nothing serious. Mike almost couldn't believe it, the building had been crumbling around them. Everyone was safe, and the building was rubble, and Mike's world was rubble, and now Mike was going to die. What would he eat? Where would he sleep? Oh god, where was he going to _go the the bathroom?_

Mike sat down on a rock and it was cold. Nothing was cold in Deluxe, nothing but the ice in the cool drinks for the higher-ups. Was he going to freeze to death? Mr. Kane had let him have one of those drinks once. The drink had been bubbly, and even had a straw and a little umbrella. Was it going to rain? Did it rain in Motorcity? Could you die of rain? The umbrella had been yellow. Mike had kept it. It was the only thing Mike owned that wasn't black or white or KaneCo blue and it was back in the barracks in Deluxe. Now everything Mike owned was black and white and KaneCo blue because all he currently owned was the KaneCo uniform he was wearing. Mike hated everything that he owned. Fuck, he was thirsty already, how long would it take for that to kill him?

There were footsteps coming towards him. They were soft and scuffling and they sounded absolutely nothing like footsteps on the plastic floors of Deluxe. Mike looked up. She was maybe sixty, but Mike had never been good at telling ages. She was smiling, even though there was plaster dust in her hair and her clothes were ripped and her apartment was rubble.

"I wanted to thank you," she said. "What's your name, honey?"

"C–Mike. It's Mike," Mike said. "I'm Mike Chilton."

"Hello, Mike Chilton, I'm Rebecca."

"Pleased to meet you, Rebecca," Mike said.

Rebecca laughed. "Yes, well, I'd be a bit more pleased to meet you if my apartment building was still standing," Mike winced, "but I am still very pleased that you were here. Is there anything I can do for you, Mike?"

Mike stared. "I. I don't," he said. How could he ask anything from these people? Their lives were ruined, and it was his fault.

"I know an easy way into Deluxe, maybe a fifteen minute walk from here. I can walk you there, if you'd like?"

"I can't go back," Mike said. He can't go back to Deluxe, and it turns out Kane is an evil asshole, and Mike was going to die.

Rebecca made a sympathetic sound. "No, I guess not." She dug in her purse and pulled out a piece of paper. An actual, honest-to-god physical piece of paper. "Here, take this."

Mike took it automatically and stared. It was green and wrinkled and had a cartoon of a dog in the middle. "No, no I can't," he said, and tried to hand it back to her. "Is this money? I can't take your money."

She refused to take it back. "It's a coupon. Take it to Jacob's place and he'll give you dinner."

First he was destroying their houses, now he was stealing their food. It was a great day for ex-Commander Mike Chilton. "You shouldn't give this to me," Mike said miserably, "I-"

"You saved all our lives. And made a lot of trouble for yourself, am I wrong?" Mike knew she was wrong, so very wrong, but the words just wouldn't come. "I absolutely hate Jacob's food and I'll never use that coupon in a million years. Keep it, or I swear I'll rip it up and it'll go to waste."

Mike knew the look in Rebecca's eyes. When Mr. Kane got that stubborn look it meant he would get what he wanted and there was nothing anybody could do. Mike liked it much better on Rebecca.

"Thank you," he said quietly.

"Good boy," Rebecca said. "Now, you see that building over there, with the forked top and the red light?" Mike nodded. "You walk in that direction, Mike, and you'll get to Jacob's. It's not a short walk but nobody here has a car at the moment, so there's nothing for it. Shouldn't take more than a few hours, though."

"Thank you, I. Is there anything else I can do here?" Mike asked. People had begun to dig through the destroyed building, salvaging what they could.

Rebecca ruffled Mike's hair, raining a shower of fine plaster dust onto the rest of him. "You've done more than enough, Mike," she said, "but people can get mean when they're scared, and it's probably best you make yourself scarce around here for a while."

"Yes, ma'am," Mike said, and stood up.

"If you can't find a place for yourself in a day or two, come back here," Rebecca told him, "I'd be happy to have an extra pair of hands around, now that Kane's decided it's moving day."

"Yes, ma'am," Mike said. "Thank you, Rebecca."

"Good luck, Mike Chilton," Rebecca said.


End file.
